Journey of Hope Immigration Pilgrimage -- Franciscan-led Project in Green Bay, WI

What do you do when you see something that needs to be addressed and you just don't know where to turn? Sr. Mary Ann Spanjers, OSF and Sr. Julie Ann Sheahan, OSF of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity in Manitowoc, WI took the lead along with others of the Diocese of Green Bay to promote a march in the City of Green Bay to raise awareness to the reality and plight of immigrants.

Sr. Mary Ann Spanjers, OSF speaking with Fr. Joachim "Kim" Studwell, OFM at St. Philip Parish prior to the March for Hope for Immigrants (photo courtesy of Mark Kolter of Kolter Creative Consult)


The Journey of Hope Immigration Pilgrimage was held on Sunday afternoon, 7 September 2008. It began at St. Philip Parish on the East Side of the city, stopped at St. Mary of the Angels Parish en route to the cathedral of St. Francis Xavier downtown. The entire event was encompassed within a prayerful context -- beginning with prayer and a blessing, continuing with prayer, including a decade of the Holy Rosary in various languages (Chinese, Spanish, Irish, Italian, Hmong, French, Dutch, German, Polish and English) and concluded with a welcome and Sunday Mass at the cathedral with the newly installed bishop, the Most Rev. David Rickens.

You can view a slide-show of the Journey of Hope Immigration Pilgrimage below (thanks to Sam Lucero of The Green Bay Compass [diocesan newspaper])
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNQ1EoYoSuA


The march was a pilgrimage of faith. It was an act of faith (first of all to put it together!). It pointed to the need for all people of European descent, for instance, to remember their immigrant roots and those of African descent to remember their often painful story of slavery and emancipation and subsequent struggles for Civil Rights here in the USA.

The pilgrimage also called upon people to respect the human rights of immigrants, regardless of their legal status.

Finally, it was a public demonstration of the Catholic Faith -- consistent with the US bishops' declarations and also papal declarations to respect the rights and respond to the needs of migrating peoples. Something that was pointed out was that migrations, particularly from the south to the north, are not unique to the Americas, but is also happening from Africa to Europe.



Bro. Steve Herro, O. Praem., Fr. Kim Studwell, OFM and Sr. Mary Spanjers, OSF confer with other pilgrims at St. Philip Parish in Green Bay, prior to beginning the March for Hope (Photo courtesy of Mark Kolter of Kolter Creative Consult)


Finally, it was very much a Franciscan event -- Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity [as above], Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Cross [Bay Settlement] and Franciscan Friars of the Assumption BVM Province participating. Likewise the participants in the pilgrimage included the Norbertine community, officials of the Diocese of Green Bay and the Sisters of St. Agnes from Fond du Lac, WI!

Franciscans certainly helped to organize it and get it off the ground. Franciscans also provided welcome and hospitality, especially at St. Mary of the Angels Parish in Green Bay, which is staffed by the Franciscan Friars of the Assumption BVM Province.


And it was Franciscan in its attempt at peacemaking -- a response to a seemingly overwhelming situation -- a call to prayer and a call to respond in a public demonstration of Catholic Faith.

Welcome, Pope Benedict XVI! What will he find in the USA?

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to make his first papal visit to the United States of America next week, 15 April 2008. With open arms the Catholic Church, young and old, welcomes the Successor to St. Peter and Vicar of Christ to our nation!

Yet, what will he find when he arrives? He is an ardent student of current events and is not ignorant of the reality we face as Catholic Christians here in the USA. You may be aware of the recently released survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, called the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey (you can find the results on-line), "The porportion of the U.S. population that identifies itself as Catholic has remained relatively stable in recent decades, but this apparent stability obscures the major changes that are taking place within American Catholicism."

The article continues, "No other major faith in the U.S. has experienced greater net losses over the last few decades as a result of changes in religious affliciation than the Catholic Church. Nearly one-third (31.4%) of U.S. adults say they were raised Catholic. Today, however, only 23.9% of adults say they are affiliated with the Catholic Church, a net loss of 7.5 percentage points. Overall, roughly one-third of those who were raised Catholic have left the church, and approximately one-in-ten American adults are former Catholics."

The survey acknowledges the tide of those who convert to Catholicism -- witness the numbers of adults who are received either as catechumens or as baptized candidates at each year's Easter Vigil. It notes that "The Landscape Survey finds that 2.6% of U.S. adults have switched their affiliation to Catholicism after bein raised in other faiths or in no faith at all."

However, it also notes that ". . . former Catholics outnumber converts to Catholicism by roughly four-to-one . . ." The survey points to the relative steady number of people who identify themselves as Catholics to immigrants -- particularly those from Mexico and other parts of Latin America. Again, "The Landscape Survey finds that nearly half of all immigrants coming to the U.S. (46%) are Catholic, compared with just 21% of the native-born population."

Finally, "The vast majority (82%) of Catholic immigrants to the U.S. were born in Latin America, and most Catholic immigrants from Latin America (52% of all Catholic immigrants to the U.S.) come from just one country -- Mexico." It continues to note that, ". . . Catholics are also represented among immigrants coming to the U.S. from Western Europe, Eastern Europe and East Asia; more than one-in-four of all immigrants form these regions are Catholic."

So, this is part of the reality of the U.S. Catholic Church which our Holy Father is visiting -- those who identify themselves as Catholic and are practicing; those who identify themselves but either practice sporadically or seldom; those who no longer identify themselves as Catholic and have left altogether; and the growing immigrant Catholic populations from Latin America, East Asia and Europe.